In the following the expressions of channel, connection and carrier will be used in a general sense.
No global definition of a channel will be given, since the channel concept varies depending on the radio access network (RAN) used. For example, in a FDMA system a channel is a frequency and channels are separated by frequency. In a TDMA system a channel is a time slot and channels are separated by time. In a CDMA system a channel is a code and channels are separated by codes. A RAN system can have a channel concept comprising different combinations of frequency, time slot and code. In fact a channel concept may be provided for each possible combination of frequency, time slot and code. Finally it should be noted that a channel has an extension in space. The expression of carrier is used in a general sense and is defined as the means by which information is transported. In a FDMA system a carrier is a frequency or narrow frequency band, in a TDMA system it is a time slot, and in a CDMA system an allocated code. A connection may comprise a single carrier or multiple carriers. A multiple carrier connection comprises multiple channels each channel using a single carrier.
Channel quality is affected by many parameters, among these channel insulation which, expressed in a very general and non-exhaustive way, may be said to be a measure of signal leakage between channels. Such leakage causes interference on other channels if they are close to each other in space. Remember that a channel has a limited extension in space. The more they are separated, the less is the signal leakage. Channel quality is also affected by signal leakage between connections. If one connection is transmitting with high power it will cause interference with an adjacent connection on the same channel(s). Interference caused by signal leakage between connections is usually less than interference caused by signal leakage between a connection's channels.
Technically it is easier to combat leakage in the time domain than in the frequency domain. Leakage in the frequency domain is usually larger than leakage in the time domain and therefore a TDMA system has the better channel insulation than an FDMA system.
Power control and frequency control are means by which interference is defeated.
In wireless networks, a trade-off between system capacity and connection capacity can often be observed.
A very general and non-exhaustive definition of channel capacity is the amount of information transferred over a channel during a certain time period.
A very general and non-exhaustive definition of connection capacity is the sum of the channel capacities of all channels included in a connection.
A very general and non-exhaustive definition of system capacity is the sum of the connection capacities of all connections existing in the system. The more information the system can transmit the better the system capacity.
The distribution of the connection capacities in a system relates the system capacity to the number of set up connections and their respective capacity. In a system, one typically strives for a narrow distribution of the connection capacities and a high system capacity. One may often observe that there is a conflict between these two objectives. If all transmitters should be given a possibility to transmit, connections with poor channel qualities will take a proportionally large amount of the available system resources in order to transmit only a small amount of information. The trade-off lies therein that to achieve a high system capacity, one should serve connections with good channel qualities. On the other hand, to obtain a high degree of fairness, one may have to promote connections with poor channel qualities and to treat connections with good channel qualities unfairly. The distribution of connection capacities may be thought of as fairness. A bad connection requiring a high transmission power should have an opportunity to transmit and/or a good connection must give away some transmission power for the benefit of the bad connections.
The capacity of a radio access network can sometimes be limited by the interference of other connections and by multi-path, inter-symbol interference (ISI) of the transmitted signal. Raising the transmit power on an individual connection may not be helpful if it ultimately leads to a “party effect” where all connections are “talking” (transmitting) loudly in an attempt to be heard. In other words, when a poor or deteriorating channel quality is detected, the deteriorated connection increases its transmit power in an attempt to improve the quality. By increasing the transmission power on the deteriorated connection interference is caused on other connections which will reduce their channel qualities. So naturally, the other connections increase their own transmit powers hoping to restore their channel quality. This process continues until the transmit power level reaches a maximum value and no further transmit power increases are permitted.
The “party effect” may be exemplified by the following example. User A is communicating with user B on a channel that has a particular, acceptable, Carrier over Interference quality value C/I. Simultaneously with this communication another user C is having a communication with user D on the same channel, that is on the same time slot/frequency/code resource, with an acceptable, C/I quality value or on a different channel with acceptable C/I in which case there is signal leakage between the channels. Now suppose the channel quality of user A deteriorates with 1 dB. To compensate for this A increases the transmission power with 1 dB. The power increase will cause interference on C's channel. The signal/noise ratio of C's channel is influenced by the power increase. So C's channel quality will deteriorate with 1 dB. To compensate for this C increases the transmission power with 1 dB. The increased transmission power causes interference on A′ channel and A's channel quality will decrease with 1 dB. So A increases the transmission power etc. etc. The process continues until the maximum transmission power allowed by the system is reached.
A previously known method to prevent the “party effect” is to refrain from compensating a deteriorated channel quality in full, and instead use a compensation scheme according to which a deteriorating channel quality is compensated only partly. For example, suppose the channel quality of user A deteriorates with 1 dB. To compensate for this A now increases the transmission power with only half the deterioration, that is ½ dB. This increased power will cause interference with C's channel. It will increase the noise on C's channel. So C's channel quality will deteriorate with ½ dB. To compensate for this C increases the transmission power with half the deterioration, that is with ¼ dB. The increased transmission power causes interference on A's channel and A's channel quality will decrease with ¼ dB. So A increases the transmission power with ⅛ dB etc. etc. The process continues, but this time the sum of the successive power settings at A as well as at C will converge and reach a limit power below the maximum transmission power allowed by the system. In the first example above the compensation factor is 1 and in the second example it is ½. Of course other compensation schemes with other factors, or varying factors, between 0 and 1 may be used.